Current deficit plunges 32%

The annual deficit has fallen 32% over the first seven months of this fiscal year compared with same period last year, according to Congressional Budget Office figures released Tuesday.

A major reason: A big jump in tax revenue.

Tax collections rose by $220 billion -- or 16% -- between the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 through April 30. Individual and payroll taxes accounted for $184 billion of that increase.

The tax haul rose sharply primarily because wages and salaries were higher, the payroll tax cut of the past two years expired on Jan. 1 and the fiscal cliff deal brokered over New Year's raised tax rates on high earners.

Later this month, the CBO is expected to publish its revised estimates for spending, taxes and deficits over the next 10 years. Earlier this year, it estimated an annual deficit for 2013 of $845 billion, but some budget observers have said they expect the deficit for this year will come in lower than that.